Willa and Wade

by Jennifer | Apr 13, 2026

Judith Henderson is a Canadian author who previously teamed up with illustrator T. L. McBeth for a series of highly-illustrated easy readers, Big Words, Small Stories. She’s launched a new series with a new illustrator Sara Sarhangpour, which has the same lively sense of humor and fun cartoon illustrations.

In their first adventure, “Willa and Wade and the way-up-there”, Willa, an ostrich, and Wade, a penguin, are thinking about flying. They both imagine what it would be like to soar through the skies, but, as Willa says, they have “no lift.” Willa, drawn as a lanky peach-colored bird with a round red body, creamy white wings, tail, and ruff, and snazzy running shoes and Wade, a squashy blue blob with a cream belly and giant wire spectacles, go through a series of adventures to try to experience flight. The pages alternate between the two drawn against a white background with speech bubbles, simple panels outlined in black, and a few full-page panels with green or blue backgrounds and simple objects like a pool, cliff, or ocean. The open-ended final spread of the story shows the two temporarily suspended against a golden sky, dotted with fluffy white clouds and blue birds, as they finally manage to “fly”.

In their second adventure, “The Museum of Willa and Wade” we see a little more of their personalities when they find a sparkly button and start a museum. The art in this book, although still depicting the same characters in the first, includes more close-ups and Willa and Wade are drawn more simply and in broader outlines. There are still lots of individual panels and images of the two collecting items for their museum, discussing their arrangement, and having a few minor squabbles between each other and the other animals who come to view their museum. This story ends on a humorous note as the two examine a possible exhibit to be loaned to their mini museum – and the final page shows the item looming over their handful of items in a box.

These simple comics are intended to be easy readers, although parents and teachers expecting the carefully leveled words of an “easy reader” from US publishers will be disappointed. There are a few simple captions, shown in a thick, dark font against a peach background, and short, simple sentences in speech balloons. However, while the text is brief, it does include more complex words like “ancient” and “fabulous”. Henderson and Sarhangpour do a good job though of pairing simple art and relatively simple text; a big challenge in early comics is not putting too many things on the page for the learning reader to decode. This is a strong choice of an intermediate easy reader for kids who have mastered the basics and enjoy gentle humor and for parents and teachers looking for portrayals of curiosity and positive, healthy friendships.

Willa and Wade
By Judith Henderson
Art by Sara Sarhangpour
Kids Can Press, 2025

NFNT Age Recommendation: Easy Readers (5-9)